Reward to Catch Person Who Buried Dog Alive Skyrockets

The cruelty one person in the Atlanta area committed against “man’s best friend” is almost beyond words. And now the reward to find them and bring them to justice has skyrocketed.

Last month, Eric Purdue was walking along a dirt trail when he nearly stepped on a dog’s head sticking out of the ground. The rest of the dog’s body was buried underground with little more than her nose showing. Incredibly, she was still alive, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Desperate to save her, Purdue dug into the hard-packed ground for half an hour, finally freeing her and rushing her to a veterinarian. Officials have determined that she was likely buried in the ground, completely immobile, for three days. Her ant-covered nose was sticking out right between the tire tracks on the well-used ATV trail.

How the suffering Chow Chow mix even stayed alive that long is incredible. Purdue, who named her Lulu, thinks a combination of overcast weather and rainfall kept her from dying from thirst, but she was still severely dehydrated when he rescued her, according to WCYB.

“I've seen a lot of things, but this is a new one for me,” exclaimed veterinarian Dr. Kathryn Haines.

Purdue explained, “Basically her head was sticking out of a hole, the size of a grapefruit. It was ridiculous. Somebody took a lot of time to do a terrible thing.”

Tragically, Lulu died the next day. Investigators are trying to find the culprit before another dog suffers a similar fate, and the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has doubled their previous award for information leading to an arrest to $10,000.

Lulu was buried on the ATV trail near Rock Mountain Boulevard and Lewis Road in Stone Mountain northeast of Georgia and found in June 6. Anyone with any information on who may have buried LuLu is asked to call DeKalb County Animal Services at 404-294-2939.